To the Editor:
With all of the controversy going on because of this year’s election, we’ve seen an uprising in hate crimes throughout the country. As a white male here at the University of Massachusetts, I’m deeply concerned for my friends who are being singled out by these Trump supporters. I’m not saying all of Trump’s supporters hate people of color and women, but there are some here at UMass that do.
In an article talking about the rise of hate crimes in New York since Trump was elected the author Michael Daly writes, “Donald Trump has almost certainly helped spur a hate crime spike in a city that derives its greatness from its diversity and otherwise leads the rest of the country in crime reduction.” In another article from the New Yorker we see a specific hate crime: “One woman in Colorado told the S.P.L.C. that her twelve-year-old daughter was approached by a boy who said, ‘Now that Trump is President, I’m going to shoot you and all the blacks I can find.’”
These issues are occurring here at UMass. My friend, who is a person of color, and I were walking to get food one night as multiple apples were thrown at us from up high. When we looked at the ground, we saw about 40 apples. A few days later in English class my teacher mentioned how there is a group of people who are throwing apples at people of color. I was furious that someone was doing that. More importantly, UMass still hasn’t taken action. This cannot be ignored and most certainly won’t be forgotten.
Another issue I am writing to you about is the Nazi-affiliated flag hanging in a window in a dorm. This flag is referred to as the “German Imperial War Flag.” I always thought college campuses were supposed to be safe, but to me this makes no one feel safe.
In an interview with my friend, I asked him how the two incidents made him feel. About the apple throwing, he said, “It made me feel disrespected and like I don’t belong.” When asked about the flag, he said, “That made me see that the world is not progressing as well we thought it was.”
UMass Amherst is a very diverse school with many different races, yet my friend feels like he does not belong. One part of the UMass mission statement states, “The University of Massachusetts Amherst, as a public land-grant institution, has a responsibility to provide access and opportunities for all people, while demonstrating our commitment to inclusion of historically underrepresented groups.” This is actually very ironic considering my friend, as I stated earlier, feels as though he does not belong.
From,
Shaymus Dunn, UMass student
David Hunt 1990 • Jan 23, 2017 at 10:11 am
@elizabethw: IMHO this is why the Treyvon Martin shooting was so YUUGE. If George Zimmerman (a white-sounding name, even though he’s Hispanic and had – IIRC – a black grandfather) had had an ethnic name, e.g., Jorge Sanchez, this would have not been a national story, let alone the national story it was for weeks.
BUT… thanks to the name, it was a useful propaganda / political tool to keep blacks on the liberal plantation: “LOOK OUT, WHITEY’S COMING FOR YOU!” How convenient that this Hispanic man with a white-sounding name shot someone so close to the 2012 election. (The press-titutes even invented “white Hispanic”.)
Same thing with “Hands up, don’t shoot!” and others.
elizabethw • Jan 14, 2017 at 3:15 pm
I have read that quote before, Dinesh D’Souza wrote a book called The End of Racism that talks about how civil rights leaders do that now and how there is actually a vested interest to not solving african-american social issues. He also directed Hilary’s America, a documentary while sensational goes into the roots of the democratic party in slavery, jim crow and segregation.
I think you have african-american and minority leaders who make a living always keeping “racism” a relevant topic but also I think that separate from that, the claimed oppression and suffering of minorities are exploited to push a political agenda. The sad thing is its minorities who suffer the most from it.
snafubar • Jan 12, 2017 at 2:53 pm
Forty-one (count ’em) FAKE HATE CRIMES since election day.
Yeah, there’s hate alright, only it is coming from the LEFT. Everything about the left is FAKE and HATE.
http://www.fakehatecrimes.org/reports
Mike Dange • Jan 12, 2017 at 2:35 pm
It is racist to suggest that “all” white people are racist. If you believe that most white people are white supremacists, “all lives matter” is racist, or white people need to check their privilege than you are a racist. All the anger and “hate” that liberals feel towards white people and white men in particular is going to promote a backlash. If you are experiencing that backlash than you are reaping what you have sowed.
Dr. King was the leader of the integrationists. He promoted integration as a solution to segregation. To integrate means to combine separate components into “one”. As such one must conclude that Dr. King was promoting a monocultural solution. He advocated all races and creeds joining together as one. That is the only solution that will work.
You are “not” a person of color; you are an American. Dr. King dreamt of an America where nobody would be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their hearts. As long as “you” judge yourself by skin color than you are rejecting Dr. King’s solution. As long as you are hating and vilifying white people than there will be tension. As long as you actively work to make enemies of white people than don’t be surprised if they react negatively towards you. By engaging in hatred towards white people “you” are responsible for those apples…
Tony • Jan 12, 2017 at 2:29 pm
Funny thing- unlike many of these unverified “hate crimes” there is video evidence of Trump supported being physically beaten as they tried to attend Trump rallies during the campaign. Yet I don’t remember liberals crying about “hate crimes” when this happened before their very eyes. The usual hypocrisy.
Stella • Jan 12, 2017 at 2:28 pm
The German Imperial War flag was from the 1860’s. It’s not a Nazi flag. Nazi flags are red with a white circle in the center. Are you a history major?
Kenneth Costley • Jan 12, 2017 at 2:16 pm
A Nazi-affiliated flag … the German Imperial War Flag? That has absolutely nothing to do with the Nazi, being a flag of Imperial Germany prior to 1918. Is the writer saying that all Germans look alike to them? Or can they simply not tell the difference between an Iron Cross and a Swastika?
David Hunt 1990 • Dec 27, 2016 at 4:08 pm
@elizabethw
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/542300-there-is-another-class-of-coloured-people-who-make-a
“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
Elizabethw • Dec 19, 2016 at 4:57 pm
” My friend, who is a person of color”. First you did not provide any further details about the “apple throwing” incident or even attempt to demonstrate or prove it was related to racism.
Second why did the term “person of color” start being used again, last I checked “colored person” was used in the 1960s and before. In my opinion and I have long thought this, liberals and those who claim to act for people of “color” are the true racists, at best they are consumed with race, a persons skin color, they see and identify on that basis and at worst exploit race in a subtle but clever way. By claiming to expose or defend against racism can hold themselves with moral high ground, introduce their political ideas, use charges of racism against those they disagree with and to bolster their political agenda, make those of “color” dependent on the state and from a declared “compassion”.
I think a real discussion needs to begin in scrutinising the exploitation of race and ” people of color” by those who claim to act in their best interest.
David Hunt 1990 • Dec 14, 2016 at 10:03 am
And all those “hate crimes” that are turning out to be frauds and hoaxes?